The entire Anderson Vs Belfort drama explained. Long read but makes the fight even that more interesting.
"Ive seen many posts and buss regarding "what is going on between Anderson Silva and Vitor", so I decided to share with you guys what is going on. I have some pieces of the puzzles you guys dont have, notably, the access to portuguese language, forums and the exposure to the brazilian media. I also happen to know a lot of the background situation in the camps and witnessing how fighters acted/said/behaved during a relativelly large time frame. So when you guys look at Anderson and dont "get it", but you feel that there is "something going on". Every human being is sensitive enough to know that there is "something going on". IF YOU WANT TO KNOW/CARE "WHAT IS GOING ON", and feel that this might increase the satisfaction from watching the fight and its consequences afterwards, this is the topic.
Back in UFC Brazil, when Vitor Belfort knocked out Wand, Anderson still trained with Chute Boxe.
At that time, Chute Boxe had many prospects and Anderson wasnt even named. This is back into 1998.
Anderson first fight was in 2000, on Mecca I. Anderson got accepted on Chute Boxe after two amateur Vale Tudo fights.
Vitor Belfort's fight with Wanderlei Silva was in 1998. Two years before Anderson Silva even came to Chute Boxe.
At the time Anderson Silva came to Chute Boxe, there were already fighters with more "prestige" in the team. Obviously, he wasnt the focus.
This video shows the Chute Boxe camp back into 1998, right after UFC Brasil event. They interview many fighters, they talk a lot of their better prospects, show them training, etc... You can see many famous names there, its all about the Chute Boxe roots. If you pay close atention you can see Anderson Silva training in the back a few times.
YouTube - Chute Boxe no Passando a Guarda em 1998
Anderson was nobody. He was just an outsider at that point. He still hadnt learned how to use his reach with Pele, and just started to learn Muay Thai.
At the end of that video, you saw Wanderlei talking about Belfort and you can see/hear it: "Its not going to remain this way, Im going to get revenge, this is not over yet, I have a lot more to show"
Chute Boxe rivalries with other camps were legendary. Their mentality was akin to military.
Vitor Belfort won the belt in 1997 at 19 years old. He was the phenomn and his popularity skyrocketed. Vitor Belfort influenced a generation, he was on the media 10 times more than any other brazilian fighter. His popularity was unanimous. Everybody wanted to be like Vitor Belfort, train jiu jitsu, and hit the weights. Vitor was marketed as a golden boy, a golden mine. He came from an above average wealth family, in Brazil you could easily put him in the minorities. He had everything, he was young, pretty, famous, godly phisique, the champion. Nothing compared to him.
Then when his sister disappeared, he got even more media attention, it became a national known drama happening live, he appeared on main television station from often making appeals for information on his sister. People empathised with him. You can find his appearances on Brazilian national television on youtube, hundreds of them.
Other fighters just appeared on closed televisions, or publishing magazines, but not Vitor Belfort. People admired him and some were jealous of him.
After he defeated Wanderlei Silva, a really bad blood started against Belfort from Chute Boxe, whenever they talked about him. At that point, everybody in the gym were subject to abstract the hate against Belfort, but that is just the start of it.
Many years later, after Chute Boxe started to crack, with many fighters leaving, Belfort went to train with CHute Boxe. At that time, Wand had just moved to US and was near the fighter with Chuck Liddel, he made his website and posted a serious of videos of him talking about everything that was happening on his life, showing his house and about other fighters and the general MMA scene, on the subject of "Vitor Belfort training with Chute Boxe, he commented "Vitor training with Chute Boxe??? Vitor, who saw you back then huh? And who see you know... people wouldnt believe it. Those video blogs might still be in Wand website or youtube. This goes to show the severity of the rivalry.
It was something UNTHINKABLE to Vitor Belfort train with Chute Boxe. YouTube - Vitor Belfort treina na Chute Boxe
Vitor was and remained an enemy for a long time.
Some people dont understand this "enemy" mentality. I will put it briefly... in Brazil there are many good fighters and they have to fight against themselfs and only the best have a chance to go to US or Japan. There was a thick bootleneck for brazilian fighters untill not long ago. Having the opportunity to fight on US and Japan meant a lot, it still mean a lot, because winning in Brazil doesnt count, you couldnt and still cant make money here. This is slightly changing, but its subject to another topic.
Anderson Silva was never the favorite puppy of Chute Boxe, its was an incredible camp and there he was just an average guy, a begginer, people were doing him a favour in letting him train there. He had to work on Macdonalds, serving a lot of rich kids, or playboys with their fancy clothes and arrogant behaviour, always looking down on him because he is black. Prejudice in the south states of Brazil is STRONG. He wasnt just black, he was poor, he was just another nobody with a very strong sense of self. He trained unbelievably hard, he did his best and still he didnt saw a light, an opportunity. He wasnt satisfied with the situation. Its subject to another topic as well, but just to say it briefly Rudimar Fedrigo, the head leader of Chute Boxe was a very dictator/autoritarian/shady guy, he did what he had to do and didnt asked people oppinion, he didnt let other people judge his decisions, he was keeping the power to himself all the time, thats how he went in history from all the fighters that left, the Fedrigo wasnt straight enough to lead/manage them.
On Chute Box, Anderson won a few fights on a minor event in Curitiba, got a contract to fight on Shooto in Japan, after winning Shooto he got opportunity to fight on Pride and after he lost to Daiju Takase on Pride, UFC offered a contract to him wich was denied by Fedrigo for shady reasons (to keep with the shady deals he had with the Japanese, in UFC, Anderson would get paid directly in his name, but in Japan, who got the money was Rudimar and the fighters didnt even know what they were signing, so in order to keep that strong rule over the money and fighters Rudimar denied the opportunity of Andersons life at the time), Anderson discovered that and got pissed... not long after, him and many other fighters started to question the way Rudimar Fedrigo did things, a considerable group of Chute Boxe fighters were unsatisfied and left. This is also on the news on the net, the names of the fighters who left, the reasons they left, etc.
Anderson's path was rough, he had to bounce into minor events in Brazil. Differently from Vitor Belfort, wich was on "Casa dos Artistas 2" (like a big brother for famous people in Brazil), where he was very popular, where he started dating Joana Prado (the playboy record seller in Brazil, the hottest and most desired woman by far at the time). Belfort had everything, money, famous, prestige, was in the big events, had the woman everybody was talking about and sharing the playboys and Anderson' life was pure shit.
You see, where Vitor had a craddle, was trained by Carlson Gracie, got straight into big events, won it very young, and lost only to Randy, got mislead into going to Pride where he lost to Sakuraba (who at the time was rampaging over people) and then back to UFC, he lost to Chuck Liddel, wich at the time was also rampaging over people.
It was only right after winning the belt of the light heavyweight of the UFC over Randy Couture that his sister got kidnapped, and from there on, everything went downhill for him, 5 loses in 7 fights. But on the otherside, ironically this skyrocketed Vitor Belforts popularity again on the media, but this time even the housewifes knew who he was and what Vale Tudo was. (Yeah, in Brazil they use famous people drama in their lifes to sell, and Vitor used the media trying to find his sister).
It was only in 2007 that the drama of his sister disappearance started to get settled. What happened basically is that they dont know for sure, one woman confessed, but in Brazil, woman end up confessing crimes of a bunch of men to protect them and stuff, so it does not proved anything and nothing happened, the mistery didnt got solved, but during this time or right after, they got an anonymous lead/information that felt very detailed/solid that his sister had been kidnapped, saw the faces of the kidnappers and end up killed, the actual story of how it all went is very sadistic and traumatic and its not the point of the thread, but knowing this was enough for him to get a closure on the episode, he could find peace, that was important to him. But in the meantime... Anderson' lifes started to change as well, he was already kicking Rich Franklin ass for the second time, solidifying his position as the champion, and even before that we already started hearing being hyped as the P4P best fighter in the world.
Anderson's life changed drastically, in the US he was a big name, but in Brazil, nobody knew him. It was all about Vitor, Vitor, Vitor. He was already tired of hearing of Vitor. When he trained with Vitor, he schooled him, he dominated him. And Vitor is a guy that usually outclasses people in training, Vitor is a beast in training, but when he sparred with Anderson, he was schooled. Vitor striking sucked in comparison, he knew it right away. Anderson felt a mix of pitty for him, but also jealousy of him, because he was so much better than Vitor how come he wasnt getting as much credit as Vitor. The whole Brazilian media is on Anderson mind since then. Everytime you hear about Vitor Belfort, its like nobody on the media knows that there is a guy named Anderson Silva that is considered outside as the best pound for pound.
Anderson goes to the press conferences and get buttered/licked by everyone and then he goes to Brazil he has to watch Vitor Belfort being praised, receiving all the attention. People like Vitor, Vitor is popular in Brazil, like I said, he defined a generation, he performed oral sex on Joana Prado's feet live on television for millions of people, every guy is jealous of him.
You have to understand Andersons point of view. In his mind, he is a better fighter than Vitor Belfort (and he is, there is no doubt about it), but Vitor Belfort is the guy that had everything. Anderson thinks Vitor does not deserve the praise/attention on the media, in fact, thats pisses him off. How come "I am not the center?" "How come I am not in his place?". In the time Vitor trained with Anderson, he still havent found a closure for his sister problem and Anderson let goes of his initial negative feelings towards Belfort and empathized with him, because in his eyes Vitor was weakened. Anderson felt very good for being able to "help" a guy like Belfort, he felt good about Belfort shitty situation and felt like "its a wounded animal, let me help you". But it wasnt sincere. It was like someone rejoicing unconsciously because from his standpoint, the tabbles had turned.
Vitor on the other hand, didnt even thought about that, not even realized what was going on with Anderson and his point of view. Vitor kept to himself, Vitor didnt bowed down to Anderson's helping hand. Its not that he tried to look tought either. Its just that Vitor didnt gave a shit about Anderson from the beggining. Vitor never aknowledged Anderson like Anderson wanted too. This frustrated Anderson. Vitor was always a protagonist kind of guy, he is alone, leader of himself, no allegiance to noone, alpha male kind of thing. Not because he tries to be like that to impress other people, its just that in his eyes/point of view, he simply KNOWS of his potential. He KNOWS what he can do, how superior he is. Off course he respects Anderson, but its in a formal way. "Yeah, he is very good", but its not like bowns down in a way that puts him in an inferior position. "This guy is very good, but if he stands in my way he is going to get it".
Vitor didnt actually betrayed Anderson. Anderson never did anything for Vitor. Vitor never aknowledged him. Vitor treated him just like another dude. Whenever Vitor got the media spotlight, he would always keep it for himself, not the kind of guy who would go out of his way to praise other people like Anderson would go to talk about Minotauro.
Everywhere Vitor goes, he goes to improve himself. He doesnt go to help other people. If other people get helped, good, but he doesnt feel like he owns them more than what he actually gives them by his presence at the time they trained. This is hard for a lot of people to understand in Brazil. Vitor takes it in an informal "Im a professional" way. Whereas other people want more than that.
At this point you have to understand Anderson's point of view. He was already a top fighter in 2003, he already knew inside himself of his potential. He had 3 years of Chute Box top training/sparring and some could say he was in his peak since then.
At this point, after not being able to stand Rudimar, he sees himself forced to leave and start over, ending up finding events to fight in the ass of the world in Brazil, felt very depressed, felt like quitting. It was at the point of his life that a guy like Nogueira cames and save the day. Nogueira did it to Anderson, and many many other fighters and he still does it. He gave Anderson his hand, he took him under his wing, he taught him jiu jitsu straight from the source (Nogueira is like 3rd/4th generation from Brazilian Top Team). The jiujitsu he had learned on Chute Boxe couldnt compare. Anderson Striking was already top, and he started to get a ground game to go with it.
At this point Nogueira wasnt at Brazilian Top Team and Anderson wasnt on Chute Boxe, so one could say it was their "marriage" that started to melt the rivalries (despite Anderson having fought Luis Azeredo in 2001).
Basically, you have to understand the history, the ups and downs, how everything went, what was their situation at the time.
Vitor has nothing against Anderson, he doesnt care about Anderson.
Where Anderson feels strongly against Vitor, it has nothing to do with "Betrayal" from the time they trained together. Its only in Anderson's view that just training a few times together would hinder a fight. At a certain point, when Anderson found himself, and Vitor was there in the shit, that Anderson felt superior thus he could somehow accept consider Vitor a pet or something. Because everything was right on his life, he thinks that that status quo should remain, like him being the champion of his weight class and his happy friends supporting him in the middle.
So when Belfort gets out of the shit, near 2007, gets momentum and finally reach his door, he feels like "How dare you to challenge me?"
Vitor nomad/protagonist/professional way of being clashes with Anderson "me and my boys are gonna rule this" mentality. Vitor was never his boy. "Vitor was never my friend". It means Vitor never aknowledged/bowed down to him even when Vitor was on the shit and he was on the top.
But thats only Anderson way of seing things. Vitor being the number 1 on Brazil media, while Anderson despite being praised left and right as the P4P being completelly shadowed by Belfort (Anderson popularity/appearances on media started to increase here since his last 2-3 fights, but still nowhere near Belfort). So to Anderson, another thing that pisses him off, is knowing that he is better fighter than Vitor, yet he does not get the credit he thinks he deserve in comparison with Vitor. Another thing relates to how always Vitor was on the spotlight and had the easy road, good family, money, in any way you can evaluate Vitor, the guy had everything and Anderson is the type of person that does get jealous. Deep inside Anderson he knows where he came from, what he had to do to get where he is, and he didnt had anything Vitor had. To Anderson, he is more deserving. He cant stand Vitor having all those things, the media praise and still comming to CHALLENGE HIM, trying to take his glory, etc.
Anderson is like "Im going to kill you. Im going to put you in your place. Im going to show the world who is the one who deserves the praise." Its the opportunity of his life, because Vitor Belfort brings to the bet tabble the glory/media in Brazil. If Anderson defeats Vitor, he will have to be seen as a superior fighter, he will have to get the edge, top attention. Something he still does not have.
Something he wants badly. And losing to Belfort will be worse than losing to anybody else, because Belfort is everything he ressents from other people, based on the things he didnt had, the life he lead, his difficulties, etc. Vitor, on the otherside is completelly oblivious of Anderson's feelings. He is like "What is Andersons problem, he seems so angry... weird.. I dont get it."
Off course Anderson wont say these things openly to the media. What he trully feels like I just said. He tries hard to be "cool" (like Belfort), trying to downplay the importance of this fight to himself, trying to make it look like just another fight. He creates a mask, to hide his hideous emotions/feelings, to hide that he is insecure. To try not to look pathetic, ridiculous, with low motivations, but inside, he just is like that. He will probably devastate Vitor like you never seen before. Its like "payback time guy". If he can embarass and humiliate Belfort worse than he did to Maia, he will. Its one of these fights that only if Anderson wins, he will be able to get over Belfort (Because he is again in a position of superiority) and will still roleplay hard that "its just another fight and he just did his job and try to give a show to the fans". But deep inside he will be grinning, because he was victorious atlast.
Im just a dude following MMA on the internet that couldnt stand seing people so clueless about what is going on. This fight has major motivations and historic proportions, most of you americans, or people who are not following MMA for long, and had no access to the info only brazilians have from forums (and posts from people who train, and stuff that dont get on the vent), or people who have no ability to logically correlate facts or understand behaviours and psychology. Thats why Im giving this information, because knowing this will help you savour the fight and analyse the aparently unexplainable behaviour of Anderson/Vitor. But make no mistake, its very personal, its not another fight.
edit: since first post got to big, I had to split it, since the first one is awaiting moderation I decided to post the continuation in another topic. If any mod read this before approving the first, please put both together."
